This invention relates to a Christmas tree stand.
It is known to provide stands for Christmas trees which are capable of receiving and supporting therein the lower ends of trunks of varying diameters. Such stands are disclosed in, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,044,192, 3,058,707 and 3,302,909.
However, all of these stands utilise relatively complex mechanical means for gripping the trunk of the tree and are therefore expensive to manufacture and prone to loss or breakage of components essential to the supporting of the tree in the stand.
It has been proposed, for example in U.S. Pat. No. 2,750,138, to provide a stand incorporating a receiving portion for the trunk of a tree in the form of a cylindrical metal container the top wall of which is radially slit whereby the trunk can be forced through, to be partially supported by, the leaves defined by the radial slits.
However, such an arrangement requires the provision of an additional stand to support, and provide stability to, the container, while the sharp nature of the radial slit configuration in the top wall of the metal container could lead to sever damage both to the trunk of the associated tree and to the fingers of a user should they be inadvertently poked into the container.
Further, once deformed into their operative positions gripping a trunk, the leaves of the top wall of the container cannot readily be returned to their rest positions for subsequent re-use of the stand.